16 Nov Carson Kitchen Opens Thursday in Alpharetta, Blending Vegas and the South on the Menu
The popular Las Vegas-based restaurant owned by chef Cory Harwell debuts at Alpharetta City Center February 13
by Beth McKibben Feb 11, 2020
Las Vegas-based restaurant Carson Kitchen, owned by Eleven Hospitality Group and chef Cory Harwell, opens Thursday, February 13, at Alpharetta City Center. Carson Kitchen resides in the old courthouse building on South Main Street at the development.
Harwell and executive chef Stan Whary’s menu centers around Southern comfort foods, like those Harwell recalls his grandmother making while growing up in Woodstock, Georgia. In Las Vegas, Carson Kitchen is known for its burgers like the butter burger with boursin cheddar, snacks such as smoked trout rillette, and Southern dishes like baked mac and cheese, deviled eggs, and crispy chicken skins with bacon jam and brie.
“…what we really are is a casual, comfortable, familiar, recognizable way for people to try foie gras, caviar, oxtail, rabbit, frog’s legs and other ingredients that people would never find in such a casual environment,” Harwell says of Carson’s food in the press release.
As for the Alpharetta menu, it includes the aforementioned dishes above, along with lollipop frog legs, tempura green beans with pepper jelly cream cheese, a rainbow trout, a chicken sandwich topped with spicy aioli, and a bourbon fudge brownie with brown butter bacon ice cream for dessert.
Cocktails lean into the classics with takes on the Old Fashioned, an Irish gin-based Bee’s Knees, and sangria made with a blend of red and sparkling wine.
The exterior of the building in which Carson Kitchen resides replicates the old Milton County courthouse, built in 1859 along Main Street in downtown Alpharetta. Carson Kitchen includes 120 seats inside between its dining room, bar, and a marble chef’s table. There’s additional seating on the patio between the restaurant and the Mercantile Building.
Harwell and the late chef Kerry Simon opened Carson Kitchen in 2014. Simon died in 2015, following a two-year battle with multiple system atrophy (MSA), a rare form of Parkinson’s disease. He was 60.
